City Coach | Coach Cane's Blog

Blog Traffic Here We Come

A few months back at this very blog we referenced a craigslist posting looking for a topless female cyclist.  We followed that with a mention of the Bike Pimp's site and a story about a guy humping his bike, and Yahtzee - our hits went through the roof.  So imagine what's gonna happen after google gets a hold of this one.  This hit my inbox this afternoon.

We need a male model for Penthouse. Specifically, we need a guy who is good looking, fit, and is a runner. It's for a column about tech products for runners.

If only they were looking for a slightly past his prime, moderately athletic Jew, I'd say the gig had my name written all over it.

Mardi Gras Marathon/Half Marathon 2008

So here's a more detailed rundown of yesterday's race.  Kevin Starkes bested his previous half marathon PR by nearly 4-minutes, finishing 6th in 1:14:24.  We sent Kevin out a little aggressively since last year's winning time seemed withing grasp if everything came together.  The good news is that it did, but the bad news is that the winning time was 1:08 this year.  Still, considering that Kevin just returned to distance running last May and his serious training under the watchful eye of his evil genius (OK - scratch the genius part) coach just began a few months ago, there's reason for tremendous optimism.

In the marathon Blair Heinke also had last year's winning time within reach, but the competition was much stiffer this year.  Still, she ran a strong 3:18:01 despite feeling "underprepared".  Of course Dr. Heinke's definition of underprepared is different than some others'.  Blair still managed a couple of 60-70 mile weeks, and even banged out a 22-miler after working 28 straight hours at the hospital.

Emily "Killer" Kindlon lost her marathon PR streak due to illness, but showed tremendous toughness by finishing in 3:30:55.  No doubt the streak will live again beginning with NYC.  In the meantime there's the minor technicality of Ironman Lake Placid in July.

In her marathon debut, Leanne Elisha ran 4:18:00.  We treated this as a training race for Leanne, as she's also getting ready for IMLP, and for the next 5 months, all mail and other correspondences can be forwarded to her new home - the studio. 

Also, congratulations to Jennifer Pietrzyk on completing her first ever 5k in 30:00.

Photos will be posted later in the week after our photography team forwards their work.  Congratulations everyone.

Separated At Birth 3.0

Not only is Alan Culpepper a strikingly handsome man, but he's on of the country's top marathoners.  A couple of days before the Olympic Trials, he joined Abdi, Ritz and Meb at Niketown for an informal discussion with our RUN NYC group.  I managed to land the gig as the MC, and it was pointed out that if Culpepper didn't show up that I could sit in for him.  Thanks to Terence for passing the photo on to us.

Separated At Birth 2.0

Name:      Bill Goins                Carl Pavano

Height:     6'7"                        6'5"

Team:     City Coach                NY Yankees

Achievement: going under       Making over $10 million
10 hours at Ironman two           for nothing four years
years in a row.                        in a row.

Special Skill: Babe Magnet       Injury Magnet

You're Not Seeing Double

This one's already all over blogland, but i couldn't help but pile on.  One of the most popular days for our humble blog is the Monday after the NYC Marathon.  Obviously there are folks checking in to see how our athletes did, but there's also our now annual feature highlighting those runners who obviously cheated.  Of course one of the charter members of the Cheaters Hall of Fame is former Mexican presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo, who somehow managed to "run" a 2:41 at the 2007 Berlin Marathon (complete with triumphant finish line photo above left).  Turns out Bobby took a shortcut that day.  He did (apparently legitimately) run 1:41 for a half in Austin this weekend (as pictured above right).

Less is Less

A few years back a friend handed me an article and said "until I got to the part where the author referred to himself as a good runner, I would have sworn you wrote this."  Turns out that it was written by Jim Hage, a former Marine Corps Marathon winner.  (I only have a hard copy, but I thought the article was so good that I just retyped it and posted at to our website.)  While some of the references are a bit dated now, and the specifics are clearly only applicable to elite runners, I think the concept is still sound.  If you want to excel, there's no choice but to work hard.  That hard work is not without risk to your health, as well as your social and professional lives - but without it, your ceiling is lowered.

Recently, over at the RUN NYC Facebook page Geoff Decker posed the question, "what enabled Kenyans and Ethiopians to rise to virtually own the sport of distance-running for 30 years?"  The knee-jerk, but in my opinion flawed answer, that a lot of folks offer is to point out that African runners have genetic gifts that their American-born counterparts lack.  The problem with that argument is that it ignores the fact that despite improvements in sports medicine and nutrition, there are fewer American-born marathoners running sub 2:15 now than 10 and 20 years ago.  If and when American's maximize their potential by working as hard as other runners, and we're still losing to our African brothers, then we can complain to the genetic running gods.  Until then, we should examine what's wrong with our approach rather than blaming others.

Miles for Mom Update

Plans for Miles for Mom - the century to benefit Locks of Love - are coming along nicely.  The date is set for Saturday 4/5/08.  In addition to the ride at the studio, a local salon is offering free stylings and cuts for anyone who donates their ponytail, and the Sheep Station will host our after-party and provide food and drink.

We've already secured sponsorship from Headblade and Jack Rabbit (and we welcome other cash or merchandise donations from corporate sponsors) and are now accepting individual donations as well.  Plus the highest bidder gets to shave Coach Cane's head. We're also still looking for 2-3 riders who are up for the challenge.

Stay tuned to the blog and our new website - www.milesformom.com.

Separated At Birth

Our friend Jonathan Blyer of the Brooklyn Tri Club - yes, he's the fast, young, Jewish triathlete from Brooklyn named Jonathan - sent along the photo to the left and asked when my modeling career began.  Where are my damn royalty checks?

 

 

Good Thing I Didn't Post This Last Week

Free Pancakes

There are two things that I never joke about -  my mother and food -  so you know that if I'm writing about pancakes you can be sure that I'm as serious as a heart attack.  Today is National Pancake Day, and IHOP is giving away free short stacks to any and all of us who drag our lazy, oversized asses to their fine restaurants.  Apparently it's a promotion to celebrate Fat Tuesday.  (Yes - i know Fat Tuesday was last week, but they postponed it because apparently Super trumps Fat, and they wanted to make sure that potential voters didn't fall into a diabetic coma whilst eating their free food.)  If for some reason you're not familiar with the location of your nearest IHOP, you can check with me, or use this handy dandy IHOP finder.  Enjoy.